# Username Changing



## Butterfree (Nov 17, 2010)

The username changing hack we used to have a while ago is back and seems to be working fine, since I just changed my name with it. (Hover over my username on this post - you should see "Butterfree" listed as a previous username.) Same rules - you can only change your name once a month unless you make a typo or something and ask a moderator to fix it for you.

To use it, go to your profile and click "Edit Email & Password" in the sidebar, type in your password at the top and then enter the username you want to change to in the two fields at the bottom.


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## Music Dragon (Nov 17, 2010)

Hovering doesn't work for me.


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## surskitty (Nov 17, 2010)

Fuck yes!  Thank you, Butterfree!  ... I typed that as Buttefree and I am deeply sorry.  Though I don't know of any buttes in Iceland.


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## Tailsy (Nov 17, 2010)

I fully approve. :)


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## Blaziking the God General (Nov 17, 2010)

Yeah, the hovering thing doesn't work for me either.

But thanks for the hack Butterfree/Bachuru!


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## Dave Strider (Nov 17, 2010)

Yeah, I'm not getting the hovering thing on anyone except Bachuru.

This is awesome, anyway. Thanks!


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## Autumn (Nov 17, 2010)

I'm not even getting the hovering thing on Butterfree/Bachuru at all :(


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## Superbird (Nov 17, 2010)

See above. BUT. This is pretty cool!


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## Squornshellous Beta (Nov 17, 2010)

Getting it for Bachuru but not for anyone else.


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## Zoltea (Nov 17, 2010)

I would think you wouldn't see a previous username unless the person actually changed it since the hack was brought back. That might explain why the hover thing only works for BACHURU's username.


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## Arylett Charnoa (Nov 17, 2010)

I'm not seeing the hover thing at all, like a few others.


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## 1. Luftballon (Nov 17, 2010)

the link seems to be http://forums.dragonflycave.com/member.php?u=1%20title=. I suggest checking the quoting in the hack. I suspect it does something to the effect of <a href="foo title="bar">.

EDIT: additionally, /everyone else/ has an extraneous space at the end of the user link.


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## #1 bro (Nov 17, 2010)

oh my god this is going to be so confusing. 

also glad to see there's another mspa fan on here looking at that guy all the way up there.


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## Yarnchu (Nov 17, 2010)

Oh hey, a username hack. :D Hmm, should I resist temptation and stay as vaporchu or should I go ahead and shorten it down to vchu, like I want to....?


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## RespectTheBlade (Nov 17, 2010)

THANK YOU BUTTERFREE!
Respect The Blade's back. For good.


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## Butterfree (Nov 17, 2010)

Oh, I made a mistake with the template edit in the vertical postbit template. That would explain why it was working for some people (including me) and not others.


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## opaltiger (Nov 17, 2010)

I would like to point out that I would have done this weeks ago if Butterfree had only told me how. >:(


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## Solstice (Nov 17, 2010)

This is very... Interesting. I wasn't present for the original hack, but it's nice to know you have the ability to change your name, even if it's limited to once a month. But I have a question. Is it limited to once a month (ex. September transits into December and you can change again) or once in a month's period (ex. you change your name on September 25, and you have to wait around 30 days to be able to change again)?

Basically, do we have to wait around thirty days or so for the ability to change usernames, or do we just have to wait until the current month has ended?


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## Sandstone-Shadow (Nov 17, 2010)

I seem to be able to hover over the names of people that are online, but not ones that are offline.

(Also, I can't see "James" in surskitty's hover-over or "BACHURU" in Butterfree's; why is that? Will only some name changes show up in the hover-over?)


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## opaltiger (Nov 17, 2010)

Xero the Echidna said:


> This is very... Interesting. I wasn't present for the original hack, but it's nice to know you have the ability to change your name, even if it's limited to once a month. But I have a question. Is it limited to once a month (ex. September transits into December and you can change again) or once in a month's period (ex. you change your name on September 25, and you have to wait around 30 days to be able to change again)?
> 
> Basically, do we have to wait around thirty days or so for the ability to change usernames, or do we just have to wait until the current month has ended?


September into December? :P

I imagine it's once per thirty day period, anyway, or possibly per twenty-eight day period.


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## Solstice (Nov 17, 2010)

Erm, I meant November into December. Mixed up. Sorry 'bout that. D:


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## Butterfree (Nov 18, 2010)

It's thirty days.

For some reason only some name changes are appearing in the username history table; I don't get why. On the other hand, I also just discovered that vBulletin keeps track of changes of profile fields by itself now, so maybe I can modify the hack to just not use the hack's table at all and instead just grab the history from vBulletin's native table.

EDIT: Done! That was easier than I thought it would be. Hovering to see the history should now be working for everyone, even those who changed their names before the hack.


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## Karkat Vantas (Nov 18, 2010)

#1 bro said:


> also glad to see there's another mspa fan on here looking at that guy all the way up there.


This was all my idea! See, I was going to change my name to Karkat Vantas after some humorous CG/AG conversations with Frostdawn. After that I convinced her to change her name to Vriska Serket and got Psymon to change his name to Dave Strider.

I'll be changing my name now...


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## Mewtwo (Nov 18, 2010)

I... jumped on the Avatar bandwagon.

Nonetheless... I like this hack. :D


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## Superbird (Nov 18, 2010)

Oh.

If you could make it appear in user profiles as well as next to posts, it would be awesome.

EDIT: Oh, and also in PMs.


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## ultraviolet (Nov 18, 2010)

okay I was immediately disoriented by 'who is this Bachuru and why are they a mod and why are they making announcements' but yes anyway, hooray for a new hack. \o/


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## Pwnemon (Nov 18, 2010)

Old username thread now useless?


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## Arylett Charnoa (Nov 18, 2010)

Well um... I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I'm still not seeing any old usernames. You put your mouse over the name, right? Without clicking? Well, that's not working out for me...


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## Pwnemon (Nov 18, 2010)

Maybe you're testing on people like UV or myself?

You're doing it right, you have to wait a couple seconds though.


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## Butterfree (Nov 18, 2010)

You will only see anything if the person _has_ changed their name; could that be it?


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## Green (Nov 18, 2010)

I'm totally not going to abuse this feature.


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## Missile (Nov 18, 2010)

joe mama said:


> I'm totally not going to abuse this feature.


Oh God.


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## Crazy Linoone (Nov 18, 2010)

ultraviolet said:


> okay I was immediately disoriented by 'who is this Bachuru and why are they a mod and why are they making announcements' but yes anyway, hooray for a new hack. \o/


This. 

This is going to be so confusing. But it's awesome anyway (Butterfree/Bachuru, I approve of your new avatar).


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## Leaf Joltik (Nov 18, 2010)

WHOA!

This seems awesome! Thanks, Bachuru/Butterfree (I'll just call you Bachuru from now on :3)


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## Zoltea (Nov 18, 2010)

If she [Butterfree/Bachuru] changes her name much more I'm gonna just call her Antialiasis.


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## Sandstone-Shadow (Nov 18, 2010)

Everything seems to be in working order now. Excellent. =3 I'm toying with the idea of changing my username... hmm...


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## Arylett Charnoa (Nov 18, 2010)

Bachuru said:


> You will only see anything if the person _has_ changed their name; could that be it?


Well, I'm hovering over yours... and it's not working. I've tried a number of others as well who I'm certain have changed their names. Tried it for a few seconds just now too. It could be my browser... 

EDIT: Yes. It is. I use Opera... it works in IE. Oh well.


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## Butterfree (Nov 18, 2010)

Zoltea said:


> If she [Butterfree/Bachuru] changes her name much more I'm gonna just call her Antialiasis.


Dude, I've had the same name for eight years of running this website and the literally _one_ time I change it you start going "If she changes her name much more..."?

Hm, I'm not sure how Opera can not be showing it. It _is_ just a standard title attribute, after all.


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## Minish (Nov 18, 2010)

Yeah, hover not working for me either. Stupid Opera. :(


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## Yarnchu (Nov 18, 2010)

Well, I decided to take a third option and went with Yarnchu, for I am pumped for Kirby's Epic Yarn and can't wait till I have the money to buy it.

Plus it goes with my spiffy new avatar and stuff.

Also, being able to hover over a username and see a person's previous usernames is just soooo cool for some reason. I guess I just like the small stuff.


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## Zoltea (Nov 18, 2010)

Bachuru said:


> Dude, I've had the same name for eight years of running this website and the literally _one_ time I change it you start going "If she changes her name much more..."?


Actually I saw 2 other names, lol, so it was more of a joke. :P


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## Butterfree (Nov 18, 2010)

The two other names was actually because when I changed my mind about having my name in allcaps, that turned out to be a headache to fix because usernames aren't case sensitive and the forum figured "oh, no, somebody already has that username!" So I had to change my name to Denchura in between. (And then there were more problems because it also refuses to let you change your name to a username another user, including yourself, had until recently, and I'm an unalterable admin so my username can't be changed in the admin CP, and blah blah blah.)


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## Zoltea (Nov 18, 2010)

Bachuru said:


> The two other names was actually because when I changed my mind about having my name in allcaps, that turned out to be a headache to fix because usernames aren't case sensitive and the forum figured "oh, no, somebody already has that username!" So I had to change my name to Denchura in between. (And then there were more problems because it also refuses to let you change your name to a username another user, including yourself, had until recently, and I'm an unalterable admin so my username can't be changed in the admin CP, and blah blah blah.)


Gotta love technology.


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## Tailsy (Nov 18, 2010)

Butterfree is super-cute now!


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## Pwnemon (Nov 18, 2010)

that avvie is the cutest, I must concur.


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## Green (Nov 18, 2010)

But mine is obviously second cutest, right?


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## Kapton Jack (Nov 19, 2010)

No not really, I like the namechange thing though, great implement. 
Mod's please delete the above post of mine ;3


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## Zoltea (Nov 19, 2010)

There's a neat trick. If you edit your post, you'll see a delete post button. From there it's self explanatory.


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## Kapton Jack (Nov 19, 2010)

The option does not show up for me? What is going on here? :D


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## Superbird (Nov 19, 2010)

Pres "edit". Then, near the bottom, there is something that says "delete post". Click it, and a little tab will open, asking you if you really want to delete the message. There is also a reason for deletion, just like reason for editing.


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## Pwnemon (Nov 19, 2010)

What Kapton Jack is saying is that he can't delete green's post because he isn't green.


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## Superbird (Nov 19, 2010)

^he said "above post of mine", not "post above of mine".


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## Kratos Aurion (Nov 19, 2010)

...except for the part where he already deleted his post. >>; I think he's saying that he can't see the option to change his username.


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## Clover (Nov 19, 2010)

So um. Is it just me, or can usernames not actually be returned to what they were? .-.


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## Dave Strider (Nov 19, 2010)

^You can't change again for a month once you've changed it.


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## Clover (Nov 19, 2010)

Well, one, I'm modly, so considering I'm changing names via the mod cp I don't think that would apply to me... but the very first thing I tried was to flip my name to 'Midnight', which it said was in use. Which, according to the thingy, was "already in use". Which, according to the members list, it is not. So.


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## Butterfree (Nov 19, 2010)

Yes, like I said in one of my earlier posts, it won't let you change names to a name that has been in use recently except in the admin CP.


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## Green (Nov 19, 2010)

ffffffffffffff.


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## Clover (Nov 19, 2010)

Bachuru said:


> Yes, like I said in one of my earlier posts, it won't let you change names to a name that has been in use recently except in the admin CP.


Well, shoot.

How recent is recently? It seems to be more than a month, as opal changed Midnight to Jester on the ninth of October...


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## Butterfree (Nov 19, 2010)

Ty Lee said:


> Well, shoot.
> 
> How recent is recently? It seems to be more than a month, as opal changed Midnight to Jester on the ninth of October...


I found the setting; it was set to two months. Set it to one month instead, since that rhymes with the name changing limit. Still keeping it around, because with people changing usernames, it _is_ somewhat dangerous to let people register under a name somebody else has been using.


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## 1. Luftballon (Nov 20, 2010)

perhaps make it just slightly longer than a month, so that if someone doesn't like their change, they can get it back?


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## Butterfree (Nov 20, 2010)

This is the time during which you _can't_ change your name to a name that used to exist. If it's the same as the time between name changes, then you _will_ be allowed to get your name back. If I made it longer, you wouldn't, unless you waited a while.


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## Karkat Vantas (Nov 20, 2010)

joe mama said:


> ffffffffffffff.


No namechange spamming for you!

Although I'm disappointed I can't change my name to Butterfree...


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## Green (Nov 20, 2010)

I meant because of the problem with the not being able to change to your old name, since I planned to change to St. Christopher after the time period was up.


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## Butterfree (Nov 20, 2010)

Karkat Vantas said:


> No namechange spamming for you!
> 
> Although I'm disappointed I can't change my name to Butterfree...


Butterfree, Dragonfree and antialiasis are all defined as forbidden usernames outside of all that, as a measure against impersonation. No matter how long I am Bachuru, nobody can register under any of those names, or change their names to one of them.



> I meant because of the problem with the not being able to change to your old name, since I planned to change to St. Christopher after the time period was up.


You will be able to do that, when the time period is up. That's what my last post was about.


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## Green (Nov 20, 2010)

I know.


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## Cloudsong (Nov 20, 2010)

So...if you want to change your name back to what it was before, you have to wait a month. However, if you want to change it to something totally new, you don't have to wait? Cuz I changed mine from SkyAngel to Flyte a few days ago, and today I changed it to SkyWingz, and was pleasantly surprised to see it let me. Then I tried to change it back to SkyAngel just out of curiosity to see if I could and it wouldn't let me. Just wondering if this is supposed to happen?

EDIT: Further experimentation revealed that yeah, that's what's happening. I changed from SkyWingz -> SkyWings -> Cloudsong. And I am now done with spamming name changes, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy ^.^


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## Butterfree (Nov 20, 2010)

Oh, right, the thing that checks if you can change your name was still trying to find a name change in the hack's history table rather than vBulletin's native one. Changed that to use that table too; should work.


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## Vriska Serket (Nov 20, 2010)

Um...I just receive an error page telling me that the database has encountered a problem whenever I try to go to the name-changing page. :/


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## Butterfree (Nov 20, 2010)

Should be fixed. Sorry.


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## Vriska Serket (Nov 21, 2010)

Nope, I'm still getting an error.


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## Phantom (Nov 21, 2010)

I am getting it too.


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## Butterfree (Nov 21, 2010)

...oh, wait, that was silly of me. Sorry. Fixed now, for real.


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## Ryan the Terrible (Nov 22, 2010)

I am Comma Police and I have an epic new username. :3

Now all I need is a complete profile overhaul.


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## Kapton Jack (Nov 24, 2010)

Karkat Vantas said:


> No namechange spamming for you!
> 
> Although I'm disappointed I can't change my name to Butterfree...


I wish you could, I really want to be Karkat, I have the same zodiac sign and everything. Plus, I am a bit of a dumb shit, like Karkat (the character not you) XD
*EDIT*
My current username is fine though, it's been mine since.... well shit, since your mom thats how long XD.
The previous sentence totally made sense.


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## Thorne (Nov 26, 2010)

Since I changed my name, I have to log in when I go to the forums, even though it's suppose to log me on automatically. Filling in the "remember me?" box doesn't change anything, either.

Anyone knows why?


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## Murkrow (Nov 27, 2010)

Cuddlefuzz said:


> Since I changed my name, I have to log in when I go to the forums, even though it's suppose to log me on automatically. Filling in the "remember me?" box doesn't change anything, either.
> 
> Anyone knows why?


Could you have set your browser to remember your login details for you, but it still uses the old username? Clearing your cookies or whatever is used might help.


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## Green (Dec 17, 2010)

Okay, one month period's up...

and I can't change my name. :|


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## Butterfree (Dec 18, 2010)

What happens when you try?


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## Green (Dec 18, 2010)

I go to the page where I can edit my password, etc., and there's no option to edit my username.


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## Pwnemon (Dec 18, 2010)

I couldn't resist- I had to test out the feature. I should have picked something more creative, though.


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## Green (Dec 18, 2010)

Nope, I can change it now.


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## 1. Luftballon (Mar 26, 2011)

it is possible to sign up, and then immediately change the name. is this intended behaviour?


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## Music Dragon (Mar 26, 2011)

Changing your name immediately after signing up is a bit stupid, granted, but why not? I don't see what the problem is. In fact, if somebody's just joined the forums, then nobody knows who they are anyway, so username confusion is much _less_ of an issue than usual.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "intended behaviour". It's not like anyone's encouraging anyone to change their username.


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## Butterfree (Mar 26, 2011)

Being able to change your name immediately after signing up is useful; if you made a typo with your sign-up name, for instance, or thought you couldn't have spaces, or something like that, having to wait three months to change it would just be annoying.


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## Sypl (May 7, 2011)

Why one month? This is torture to Pinkazoid.


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## Butterfree (May 7, 2011)

Because it is insanely annoying to other members to have to keep up with you changing your name every couple of weeks. Though it seems the existence of the username hack has made everyone feel obligated to change it monthly, which isn't honestly that much better.

For the love of God, pick a name you actually believe you may permanently want to be associated with instead of basing it on some random spur-of-the-moment obsession that you'll probably get bored with before you're allowed to change your name again.


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## Solstice (May 9, 2011)

Butterfree said:


> Because it is insanely annoying to other members to have to keep up with you changing your name every couple of weeks. Though it seems the existence of the username hack has made everyone feel obligated to change it monthly, which isn't honestly that much better.
> 
> For the love of God, pick a name you actually believe you may permanently want to be associated with instead of basing it on some random spur-of-the-moment obsession that you'll probably get bored with before you're allowed to change your name again.


Says the person that changed their name to Bachuru and back

I see the point in that, anyways.


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## Butterfree (May 9, 2011)

I changed my name and changed it back, but I kept it for five months in between. I'm not saying don't ever change your name at all; I'm saying don't change your name _constantly_.


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## 1. Luftballon (May 9, 2011)

would it be possible to reimplement that box on the profile with previous names and the dates of the change?


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## Zhorken (May 10, 2011)

I second that.  Having to dig up a post to see username history sucks, and even then it doesn't show dates, and I've actually found myself wanting to know _when_ a change happened a few times.


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## Kratos Aurion (May 10, 2011)

Just to clarify, it's only admins that can get around the month-long wait, right? Can mods not get around it at all, or can they just not get around it when changing their own name?


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## Arylett Charnoa (May 10, 2011)

sreservoir said:


> would it be possible to reimplement that box on the profile with previous names and the dates of the change?


I third this. I can't even SEE username history on posts in the first place due to my browser and it's a real pain in the ass because I never know who the heck is who anymore. It'd be a great alternative to us Opera users.


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## mewtini (May 10, 2011)

Arylett Dawnsborough said:


> I third this. I can't even SEE username history on posts in the first place due to my browser and it's a real pain in the ass because I never know who the heck is who anymore. It'd be a great alternative to us Opera users.


Fourth...ing?

I don't use Opera, but it seems like a good idea (though I can't say I saw it, but it sounds useful.)


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## Zero Moment (May 12, 2011)

Arylett Dawnsborough said:


> I third this. I can't even SEE username history on posts in the first place due to my browser and it's a real pain in the ass because I never know who the heck is who anymore. It'd be a great alternative to us Opera users.


I fifth this, as I am also an Opera user and I can't tell if someone is a new user or if they just changed their name if they don't say that they used to be their previous username in their title/signature.


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## 1. Luftballon (May 13, 2011)

Legendaryseeker99 said:


> I fifth this, as I am also an Opera user and I can't tell if someone is a new user or if they just changed their name if they don't say that they used to be their previous username in their title/signature.


join date? also, does opera not respect title or something?


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## Zero Moment (May 13, 2011)

Oh! I have an idea for the username thing.

Just put a tab in the Public Profile that shows all past usernames!


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## shy ♡ (May 13, 2011)

sreservoir said:


> would it be possible to reimplement that box on the profile with previous names and the dates of the change?





Legendaryseeker99 said:


> Oh! I have an idea for the username thing.
> 
> Just put a tab in the Public Profile that shows all past usernames!


... Uh.


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## Genuine Diamond (May 18, 2011)

Great. Now I can change my name. I hate this one.


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